The court in Amiens, France, has rejected the request for the release from prison of Albanian businessman Ermal Beqiri, who will remain in pretrial detention pending a decision on his extradition to Albania.
Beqiri appeared in court this Friday, October 23, three days after his request for release was reviewed. The French authorities are expected to decide whether or not he will be handed over to the Albanian authorities.
Të lidhura
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According to the French newspaper, the businessman, who lives in the Château d’Auteuil in Berneuil-en-Bray, in the Oise department, is opposing extradition.
The Special Prosecutor’s Office against Corruption in Tirana suspects him of being one of the people involved in the AKSHI scandal.
During the hearing, the court examined the extradition request on its merits, after the Albanian authorities had sent additional documentation at the request of the French court in August.
The documents included correspondence from the Minister of Justice, the head of the Special Prosecutor’s Office against Corruption and the General Directorate of Prisons concerning legal guarantees.
Defense lawyer Nicolas Paganelli challenged the documents submitted, questioning their credibility.
“They are drafts; this is not serious work. You are not an after-sales assistance service for incomplete diplomatic guarantees,” he said.
For his part, Ermal Beqiri claimed that the case against him was political and expressed distrust of the Albanian justice system.
“If I have corrupted anyone, it is the state. But on this side, no one is in prison. In any case, there is a problem here. This case is purely political,” the businessman said.
Meanwhile, the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Amiens is requesting that the extradition go ahead, arguing that assessing the Albanian judicial system does not fall within the jurisdiction of the investigating chamber.
“You are being asked to take a position on the Albanian judicial system, but that is not the task of the investigating chamber,” the public prosecutor said.
She had earlier summed up the case with the words: “A major organized purge is taking place in Albania.”
It is worth recalling that Ermal Beqiri was arrested after flying his private aircraft at low altitude over the Penly nuclear power plant, between Dieppe and Le Tréport in France.
Before the French authorities, on July 27, Beqiri stated that he had made a mistake with the flight altitude and that, when he flew over the plant, he had been speaking on the phone with his mother.
As part of the guilty plea procedure, he was sentenced to a fine of 7,000 euros. Although he was expected to be released after the completion of this procedure, Beqiri remains in Beauvais prison because the Albanian authorities have sent France a request for his extradition.
The French authorities have seized a 16th-century château, nearly one hour from Paris, bank accounts worth more than 2.1 million euros, two apartments in southern France, several vehicles, a yacht and a light aircraft.
Ermal Beqiri is wanted by SPAK in connection with abuses involving AKSHI tenders. SPAK has charged him with the criminal offenses of “Illegal competition through violence,” “Unlawful deprivation of liberty,” “Violation of the equality of participants in tenders or public auctions,” committed in the special form of cooperation as part of a structured criminal group, and “Structured criminal group,” “Commission of criminal offenses by a criminal organization and a structured criminal group,” as well as “Laundering the proceeds of a criminal offense or criminal activity” and “Active corruption of persons exercising public functions.”
